Do we need a peacetime national civic service corps for local authorities?

James Derounian proposes a big society gap year to stimulate community development and support councils

Naomi Somerville Large (left) spent her gap year volunteering to work with adults with learning difficulties. A national civic service scheme could help local authorities provide community services. Photograph: David Sillitoe David Sillitoe /David Sillitoe

This essay has particular resonance for local authorities as deep cuts bite deeper; councils struggle to deal with the effects of rioting and disorder, the queues of unemployed rise and rise, and discretionary activities around the loose concept of the "big society" finally go to the wall.

It has to be said that the idea of peacetime national civic service is not a new one. Just last year David Blunkett called for a large-scale volunteer programme as "critical to the wellbeing of young people and the nation as a whole". But what's it got to do with local authorities? Everything: according to the Local Government Act 2002 the purpose of local government is to enable local democratic decisionmaking and action by and on behalf of communities, and to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities. A tall order in a time of austerity, when councils are being pushed back to providing statutory functions.

In its discussion on the issue, Prospect recommends that every British young person aged 16 to 25 should be paid a modest amount – perhaps around the minimum wage – to spend at least six month working on projects supporting children, the sick and elderly, the environment, and international development. These are the worthy undertakings that are fast becoming a step too far for many councils.

Equally, such work would tie in with delivering the localism agenda and the big society. It could also give a much-needed shot in the arm to local council endeavours around sustainability.

With recent local elections managing a meagre overall turnout of around 30%, the question of how to re-engage with the electorate and in particularly with young adults has become a pressing concern. Why not via a form of peacetime national service? We have so much to do, and not enough time and money to do it. This could be a solution.

In the US, service learning is a well trialled idea. During the last presidential race Hillary Clinton called for "two years of national service". Why? Because it picks up on the idea of an exchange of rights and responsibilities within society – in this case a structured opportunity to help others.

The Prospect feature goes on to claim that visits "to help with shopping and gardening could keep thousands of elderly citizens out of care homes" whilst at the same time producing "more confident, tolerant and worldly-wise" teenagers.

Such a scheme would build on the government's national citizenship service for school pupils. It could also pick up on the idea of schemes such as Orange Rockcorps, whihc rewards four hours of service to the community with a gig ticket to a major event. And I'd like to offer a further twist: a big society green gap year, whereby school leavers trade six months voluntary service for a community, in pursuit of sustainability or work on climate change, in return for an educational credit which knocks £3,500 off their first year university tuition fees. This scheme is about reciprocity, imagination and harnessing the dynamism of youth.

Here's proof positive of its efficacy: when President Roosevelt launched his Conservation Corps during a time of depression, within six months a quarter of a million young people were working in America's forests, planting treeds, building parks and bridges.

"There is no reason why such an ambitious programme could not become part of the solution to the economic crisis facing Britain," it is argued. Or, indeed, the related crises in our councils and local communities.